“What is Mod Now?”

When you ask Paul Reeves about mod you’re in for a lesson or two, so buckle in and I’ll give you a run down on the first answer about what it is to be mod.

After pausing for a minute to think, Paul decided what he felt best summed up what it was to be mod was a quote from the manager of ‘The Who’.

Mod is “clean living under difficult circumstances”.

Paul got into the mod community during the revival, following the film ‘Quadrophenia’ and believes it sprung up from teenagers and young adults from working class backgrounds; they got their first pay-cheques and decided to splash out on items that replicated the cool, sophisticated looks that were appearing in the French and Italian films showing in Britain.

With these French and Italian films came over the ‘Vespas’ and ‘Lambretta’ scooters which allowed you to travel in style without getting dirty. Paul told me that he once actually drove an old ‘80s scooter all the way up to Scotland with a friend! Unfortunately his friend’s scooter broke down halfway through the journey so Paul had to go on the rest of the way alone; I heard him use the words “cold”, “miserable” and “lonely” a number of times so I don’t think he’ll be doing that again any time soon!

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One thing I can never drive without is a good couple of songs to get me there and, as ever, Paul had a couple of suggestion of new music to try out; his favourite band is ‘Small Faces’, part of the BritPop scene. Paul even decided to name his shop after a club that ‘Small Faces’ used to play named ‘The King Mojo’! Paul flipped it and keeps the style in mind whenever he stocks his store.